Jake

By Alfred Slote

Book Overview

Jake, a tough, independent eleven-year-old ballplayer lives with his Uncle Lenny, a musician, and pretty much takes care of himself. His baseball team, the Print-Alls, is in first place, but they need a coach in order to stay in the League. No one's father wants to do it, so Jake and his team come up with a plan that might be crazy enough to work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 098869882X
• ISBN13: 9780988698826
• Release Date: March 2013
• Publisher: Arborvillebooks
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great story, excellent read for young people

This is an excellent book that for some reason has gotten lost in the shuffle of children's books. I still have the copy that I read originally when I was nine years old. A young reader today does not have to be a baseball fan nor a boy to appreciate the storyline and the realistic issues the protagonist deals with... it is a timeless story that is well worth reading.

It's a shame it's no longer in print...

...because I think this was probably my favorite of Alfred Slote's books (all of which I loved when I was a kid). Eleven-year-old Jake loves baseball, shares an apartment with his occupied uncle, and often has to fend for himself when meeting his basic needs. One predicament he faces involves his rag-tag baseball team which can't play unless they have a legitimate coach, and no one will coach them. It's a good story of how Jake struggles to understand the world he lives in and how the adults in his life learn to act responsibly.